Saturday, September 26, 2015

Slow Saturday Special: Trump Will Save Christmas

"Trump is booed for Rubio criticism" September 26, 2015

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump, whose candidacy has become defined by thick crowds of cheering fans, heard something unfamiliar at the annual Values Voter Summit: Boos, directed at him, for what he had just said about a fellow Republican.

‘‘You have this clown, Marco Rubio, and I’ve been so nice to him!’’ said Trump.

Jeers nearly drowned him out. Rubio, who has steadily risen in polling (while remaining far behind Trump), had given a well-received speech just hours earlier. Trump was used to mentioning an opponent, and hearing a crowd heckle him or her in absentia, but for a moment he seemed to have lost the room.

He wrenched it back. ‘‘He’s in favor of immigration, and he has been,’’ Trump said of Rubio. ‘‘He has been. It was the Gang of Eight — do you remember the Gang of Eight? It was terrible. And then he went down in the polls.’’

The room quieted, and a select few people started shouting ‘‘yes’’ in support of Trump’s score-settling.

‘‘You know what?’’ he said. ‘‘If you believe in something, you have to be true to yourself. You have to be. It was the Gang of Eight, really weak on immigration. All of a sudden, he went down of the polls, and he starts changing his tone. But you never really change your tone. You remember it. And also, when you’re elected senator, you have to go and vote. He’s got the worst record.’’

There were no more heckles or interruptions. Trump proceeded with his usual blend of free-associative patriotism, blending in some talk of religion and jibes at retiring House Speaker John Boehner.

Trump, who struggled to explain his faith in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, did not really try at the summit. He noted, several times, that he was winning evangelical voters, but (as he hoisted his Bible) referred to them as a third party .

“Remember the expression ‘Merry Christmas?’ You don’t see it. You’re going to see it if I’m elected,’’ he said.Have you informed the Jews that want to have it removed, and will the menorahs then come down?

Donald Trump said during a campaign speech in North Charleston, S.C., Wednesday that Hillary Clinton is ‘‘shrill,’’ raising his voice several octaves to get the point across.

‘‘Hillary, who is very shrill — do you know the word ‘shrill’?’’ Trump said to a crowd of a few hundred at a convention center here Wednesday afternoon. ‘‘She can be kind of sha-riiiiill.’’I'm not a Clinton fan, and women can get that way; however, having a chauvinist pig as president? I dunno....

Trump is often criticized for the way he describes women, and Clinton was not the only woman he went after. He said Caroline Kennedy is too nice to be the ambassador to Japan. He described, at length, a ‘‘vicious, vicious woman’’ in her 80s who once sued him during a dispute over an apartment. And he yet again called the career of former technology executive Carly Fiorina, another Republican running for president, ‘‘a disaster.’’

‘‘They say: ‘You can’t say that because it’s sexist,’ ’’ Trump said. ‘‘I say: ‘What’s sexist about it?’ I respect women more than I respect men . . . I have great respect, admiration, and I cherish women . . . I love women!’’There is a difference, Don.

Several people in the audience said those sorts ofbrash, politically incorrect commentsare the No. 1 reason they love Trump — and why they would vote for him in the presidential primary here next February.

‘‘He speaks his mind. He tells the truth,’’ said Stephanie Grant, a mother of three wearing a ‘‘ReTRUMPlican’’ T-shirt who drove about two and a half hours from Hartsville to see Trump. ‘‘As much as I hate to admit it, I’m 42 and I’ve never voted before. But I’m voting for him. I never felt like anyone was telling the truth before now.’’

Trump’s team billed the event as an address to the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce, but his appearance actually came during the Greater Charleston Business Alliance’s annual meeting.

Earlier in the day, Trump had tweeted that ‘‘for the foreseeable future’’ he would no longer do interviews with Fox News.

"The Atlantic City savior who came up snake eyes; In his run as a casino mogul, Donald Trump brought gilded promise, but then came the bankruptcies, and the smart money — his — left town" by Matt Viser Globe Staff September 27, 2015

ATLANTIC CITY — Donald Trump’s dealings in Atlantic City have become more of an issue as he surges to the top of the polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He boasts of his business acumen, but his opponents have pointed to the trail of bankruptcies by his casino operations as evidence of a less-than-stellar, if not reckless, track record.

“He’s the biggest [jerk] I’ve ever known. ... There’s nothing nice I can say about him. He hurt so many people,” said Phillip Sternberg, a former Trump investor who was part of a committee appointed by shareholders to negotiate with Trump during one of his bankruptcies. “He bankrupted families that were two- and three-generation electricians, plumbers.”

The Trump name still adorns the facade of the Taj Mahal, but the man himself never visits any more. Left behind are decidedly mixed memories of the entertainment executive who manufactured a wave of spectacular success for himself and Atlantic City that suddenly receded, its imprint hard to detect now amid the obvious economic hardship and the vacant boardwalks.I was told they were doing much better.

Some, nevertheless, still recall Trump’s glory days with fondness, but others offer a caustic account.....

He was a "man on the move, with dad’s help" and it's his "appeal that survives bankruptcies," while the "trouble where it all began" is lost in the "trappings of glitz, little glamour."

It's a boom-and-bust relationship I have with the Globe these days, and “it’s a normal thing with a [pre$$ like them]. [They] come in, all fluff, and all the sudden [I] disappear.”Time to go watch some football.

WARNING for European visitors: European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities.